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Early Mars

Without phosphate limits

Nature Geoscience volume 6, pages 806–807 (2013)Cite this article

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Phosphorus is an important element for biogeochemical development. According to a set of experiments, martian phosphate minerals dissolve more quickly than terrestrial ones, possibly providing nutrients in aqueous environments for early martian life.

So far, we know of no organism that can replace the phosphorus taken from phosphate with other elements for the molecules that govern replication and metabolism. Phosphate is also important for structural purposes both on the microscopic level as cell membrane material and the macroscopic level for bones and teeth. However, these roles show less parsimony in life: the phospholipids in cell membranes can be replaced with sulpholipids3 and a large suite of other biominerals, including calcite and silica, provide structure on a macroscopic level to a variety of life forms.

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Figure 1: A crystal (1 cm in length) of the phosphate-containing mineral fluorapatite.

© VIRGINIA PASEK

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  1. Matthew Pasek is in the Department of Geology, University of South Florida, 4202 E Fowler Ave, Tampa, Florida 33620, USA,

    Matthew Pasek

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Correspondence to Matthew Pasek.

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Pasek, M. Without phosphate limits. Nature Geosci 6, 806–807 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1929

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